Martial Arts Thread

Why kick someone in the face? Your hand is closer to their face. Or just kick them in the knee. Instant takedown.

I like groin/stomach kicks. Knees are smaller targets. And hard.

I've taken Tae Kwon Do for 3 years, Karate and Judo for 1 year, and Kung Fu for a semester. While it is not of the eastern martial arts that come to mind, I've also practiced Fencing for 2 years. My dad calls me his "Little Warrior"

How do you break stuff with your hands?

How important is learning more fighting styles?

Groin kicks will just piss your attacker off unless you land them right. Plus, it's pretty easy to evade a groin strike - just twist your hips slightly to the side and take it on your inner thigh.

But how do you break stuuf like wood, cinderblock and even steel with your hands?

edited 5th Mar '11 10:55:08 AM by G.G.

By doing the strike properly.

Cross-training makes you more versatile, and that's a good thing in general.

Different styles will teach you different things. Tae Kwon Do taught me that the strongest parts of my body to strike with are elbows and knees and how to properly disarm someone with a gun (but now I also know how to fight with a lot of weapons I'll never carry on my person). Judo taught me how to fall properly without hurting myself and how to use my opponent's weight against them. Karate really didn't teach me much, but Kung Fu taught me how to defeat an opponent by expending as little energy as possible and many vulnerable points on the arms and head. As a woman with a somewhat petite frame, these are all vital to protect myself in case something happens to me and I don't have something like a taser or mace.

I noticed that despite all the martial arts i've learned so far, if anything happened I'm most likely shoot that person; I know it's the pragmatic things, but it's slightly ironic.

I wondered about that too, if you leanring how block, kick and strike the 'right' way then why doesn't boil down tot the Indiana Jones school of pragmatism when you are fighting for real? Humans are bastards when it comes to this and it does help us survive.

How do you tell apart a brawler from a disciplined fighter?

Does it take some technique to break and strike down objects in half?

What factors should you consider when you are dealinh with an opponent?

edited 7th Mar '11 3:11:19 PM by G.G.

Why are you so interested in learning to break stuff?

The local "Tae-Kwon Do" place usually takes a bunch of thick planks and saws them on one side. After they break 'em they use a bit of elmers glue so they can reuse them later.

The strategy works pretty well for them when they do their public gig every few months, save for the time when some onlooker brought out a cinder block and one of the students took him up on the offer.

edited 7th Mar '11 3:36:29 PM by carbon-mantis

@GG: Think of the various martial arts out there as tools; every one you learn is another tool for the tool box. Now some might be more practical' at a task than others, take the example I used about preferring to shoot people over fighting them; it's like using a nail gun instead of a hammer.

You have the tools, it's up to you to use them correctly and in the right situation.

• How do you tell apart a brawler from a disciplined fighter? Apart from fighting them? Sometimes the lines blur.

• Does it take some technique to break and strike down objects in half? Not really, you can use a bat.

• What factors should you consider when you are dealinh with an opponent? In what regards? A sport, a debate or a fight?

@Kino I was kind of referring to self defense but thnaks for the answers man.

edited 8th Mar '11 9:22:53 AM by G.G.

^Your location, the people around you, your breathing, your mind, your training, cars, legal repercussions, people with video camera, law enforcement, death, injury, the possibility of backup showing up, loud noises...the list goes on and own. There's so a lot of stuff that you need to be aware of and/or take into account before, during, and after conflict.

edited 8th Mar '11 9:24:54 AM by Kino

See the problem when people evaluate a lot of fighting styles as self defense it's in context of how they'd do against trained fighters.

Or they think only about the moments it is used against completely useless and uninventive fighters (aka "people who shouldn't start a fight anyway"). There's a karate course given in my area that aims specifically at teaching women and physically handicapped people. Selected quotes:

• "Lots of people are scared off by a well-timed kiai"
• "Ramming a wheelchair against someone's legs unexpectedly will stop the fight immediately"

The first does not address the people not falling under "lots". The second completely ignores three things: 1) A wheelchair is not exactly known for its low center of gravity - a strong person might just lift it at one of the arm bars and tip it over, 2) a wheelchair has open wheels, which are easy to block with something, and 3) it won't work in limited space with obstacles (e.g. a pub).

I question courses that state that the main advantage of martial arts is self-defense (I'd say it's about keeping the body well-trained (and liking the peripheral culture in some cases)), because they suggest that fights never have unexpected elements or obstacles involved. Also, considering that a lot of people do martial arts or have done them, the chance of meeting someone who isn't a total asshat at fighting is quite high, although I'd say that drunk, strong bar brawlers are quite a bit more dangerous than the average person who gets caught up in an unfortunate row.

Did the instructor say to just do a kiai? Because we're taught to use it as intimidation while striking or after.

Quite a few of the situations we train against involve bar fights. Might have something to do with the fact that the entire organization drinks quite merrily after sessions.

Nope. The quotes are from their recruitment articles in local newspapers, which essentially suggest that karate is a good way for people to defend themselves if they feel threatened. Which in itself is weird, because in the Netherlands using violence against people is only allowed when you are attacked and defend yourself - attacking first consists assault and is punishable by law.

edited 10th Mar '11 12:56:56 AM by TheStupidExclamationMark

Has anyone here actually studied ninjutsu? If so, have you had an opportunity to utilize what you've learned outside of the dojo?

I formally studied Taekwondo and Karate. Informal studying of Tai-chi, Aikido, Southern Praying Mantis syle Kung-Fu, and a little practice of Iaijustu.

Hahaha, that's pretty much what my Tae-kwon-do instructor said.

It's not that the martial art is weak, it's that the teachers are often crappy.

One of my instructors, Mr. Greg, is has done some MMA tournaments and such. Normally, such tournaments have lots of ground fighting and such, but during his first match... he went up to his opponent and kicked them in the a bunch of times. He was done after that. Whenever a tournament rolls around, Mr. Boun sticks all the kids in the black belt category, because most kids aren't taught very seriously. They come back with medals, without fail.

I think part of the reason for this is that Mr. Boun doesn't believe in the "western style" minimizing effort in order to prevent people from quitting. And indeed, many do quit. 8 or so year old son gets pushed to tears during sparring; even better, during a belt test, all of the kids (and even teens) cried at least once.

Just got my orange belt.

Being able to "break stuff" is a combination of strength, effective striking technique, and most importantly, bone hardening. That's achieved through repeated striking of hard objects with your hands, feet, knees, head, etc. As a kid I inadvertently did that with my skull. My older brother and the two younger ones used to slam our heads against the wall repeatedly before headbutting each other, also repeatedly. Sounds retarded, but that's the kind of thing you do when you're a bored, violent 5-17 year old kid.

Anyway, it apparently worked very well because I can give a vicious Glasgow Kiss and have become pretty notorious for it. One of my more public brawls involved me getting in the mount on my opponent and then raining down punches, elbows and headbutts for about ten minutes or so. For about a week afterward the other guy looked like he had been hit by a truck, and I had a small round purple bruise in the middle of my forehead - from hitting him with it. The other guy's roommate (who thought the fight was hilarious) said "I've boxed in college for four years, and I've never seen anyone's face look that bad."

Another, more mundane example of how thick my skull is (insert joke here) is breaking sheetrock and plywood when I used to do house remodeling jobs with my dad before I graduated and commissioned into the Army. There's a lot of demolition involved in remodeling, and I'd smash wallboard over my head once removed, or put my head through it or whatever. Plywood I tried a few times, although it's significantly harder and a little painful. I still have yet to break either a glass or a bottle over my head but I plan on doing it eventually.

I know it is not possible to do those Spinning Kicks that you see in Street fighter II but had you at least attempted one?

Well, there are thunder kicks, and jump back spin kicks, which are vaguely similar.